Mental health and hostility as predictors of temporary employment: evidence from two prospective studies

Interaction between old age and precarious employment on poor mental well-being in workers: Evidence from a nationally representative sample in Korea

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the relationship between precarious employment (PE) and mental well-being, focusing on age-specific interactions.

METHODS

Nationally representative Korean workers (N = 29,961) were surveyed between 2020 and 2021 to collect data on multidimensional PE (categorized as low, moderate, or high) and the WHO-5 well-being index. Workers' ages were classified as young (<35 years), middle-aged (35-54 years), and older (≥55 years). Logistic regression was performed to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The interaction between PE and age on well-being was examined by including interaction terms in the regression models.

RESULTS

The prevalence of poor well-being was 25%, 29%, and 39% for low, moderate, and high precariousness, respectively, whereas it was 26%, 30%, and 39% for young, middle-aged, and older workers, respectively. In the overall sample, the OR (95% CI) of the association between PE and poor well-being was 1.24 (1.17-1.32) for moderate and 1.54 (1.43-1.65) for high precariousness, compared with low precariousness. There was a significant interaction between old age and PE on the odds of poor well-being. Compared with young workers with low PE, middle-aged workers with high PE (OR: 1.85, 95% CI: 1.62-2.10) and older workers with high PE (OR: 2.10, 95% CI: 1.83-2.40) exhibited increased odds of having poor mental well-being.

CONCLUSION

PE serves as a social determinant of older workers' psychological well-being. Policy interventions are required to protect older workers' psychological well-being.

Effects of depression on employment and social outcomes: a Mendelian randomisation study

BACKGROUND

Depression is associated with socioeconomic disadvantage. However, whether and how depression exerts a causal effect on employment remains unclear. We used Mendelian randomisation (MR) to investigate whether depression affects employment and related outcomes in the UK Biobank dataset.

METHODS

We selected 227 242 working-age participants (40-64 in men, 40-59 years for women) of white British ethnicity/ancestry with suitable genetic data in the UK Biobank study. We used 30 independent genetic variants associated with depression as instruments. We conducted observational and two-sample MR analyses. Outcomes were employment status (employed vs not, and employed vs sickness/disability, unemployment, retirement or caring for home/family); weekly hours worked (among employed); Townsend Deprivation Index; highest educational attainment; and household income.

RESULTS

People who had experienced depression had higher odds of non-employment, sickness/disability, unemployment, caring for home/family and early retirement. Depression was associated with reduced weekly hours worked, lower household income and lower educational attainment, and increased deprivation. MR analyses suggested depression liability caused increased non-employment (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.26) and sickness/disability (OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.34 to 1.82), but was not causal for caring for home/family, early retirement or unemployment. There was little evidence from MR that depression affected weekly hours worked, educational attainment, household income or deprivation.

CONCLUSIONS

Depression liability appears to cause increased non-employment, particularly by increasing disability. There was little evidence of depression affecting early retirement, hours worked or household income, but power was low. Effective treatment of depression might have important economic benefits to individuals and society.

The Influence of Economic Factors on the Relationship between Partnership Status and Health: A Gender Approach to the Spanish Case

This study explores the relevance of economic factors (e.g., a household's economic capacity and the prevailing economic context) to understand the relationship between the partnership status and the health of Spanish adult women and men (age 30-59). To do so, it draws on cross-sectional data from the Spanish sample of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) for the years 2005, 2010, and 2015 (i.e., before, during, and after the 2008-2012 economic recession). The results reveal dissimilar patterns of association between partnership status and both the health of, and the economic difficulties faced by Spanish women and men in each of the three years studied. Most notably, the partnership status of Spanish women has a greater impact on their likelihood of experiencing economic difficulties and poor health than does that of their male counterparts. Additionally, women are also more likely to experience economic difficulties during and after the economic recession. The disadvantageous situation of Spanish women in the public sphere is shown to have a negative impact on their ability to cope with the economic difficulties associated with the end of a union and a contextual recession.

The Impact of Mandate Contract and Self-Employment on Workers' Health-Evidence from Poland

The purpose of the study is to analyze the correlations between two clearly defined forms of non-standard employment (self-employment and mandate contract) and workers' health. The study also addressed such variables as gender, age, length of service, and the reason for employment (voluntary vs. non-voluntary). The research was carried out in Poland in 2020 using the CATI method (a telephone interviewing technique), and it covered a sample of 200 workers (100 self-employed and 100 working under a mandate contract). Most of the respondents declared that their form of employment did not affect their health. However, the statistical analysis showed significant differences in health status between the self-employed and those working on a mandate contract. Self-employed respondents experienced mental health impacts more often, whereas those working under a mandate contract more frequently declared that their physical health was affected. The length of service was only important for mental health, having a negative impact on it. The respondents' age and gender turned out to be statistically insignificant, which is in contradiction to many previous research findings. The inability to choose one's form of employment resulted in worse physical health. These findings demonstrate the importance of certain variables that were not prioritized in previous studies and emphasize the need to clearly define what non-standard and precarious forms of employment are, as well as revealing new correlations between the studied categories and providing directions for further research.

Non-Permanent Employment and Employees’ Health in the Context of Sustainable HRM with a Focus on Poland

This study is focused on the assumption that the analyses focused on sustainable human resource management (HRM) should include the problem of unstable forms of employment. Reference was also made to Poland, the country where the share of unstable forms of employment is the highest in the European Union. The authors based their findings on the literature and the data published, i.e., by Eurostat, OECD and Statistics Poland, accompanied by CSR reports. Insecure forms of employment have negative impact on employees’ health, primarily regarding their mental health. Statistically significant correlations were found between the expectation rate of possible job loss and non-standard employment variables, and the rate of reporting exposure to risk factors that affect mental wellbeing and precarious employment rates. However, conducting statistical analyses at the macro level is associated with limitations resulting from leaving out many important factors characteristic of the given countries and affecting the presented data. Current guidelines, relevant to reporting the use of non-standard forms of employment by enterprises, are inconsistent. Companies voluntarily demonstrate the scope of using non-permanent forms of employment and not referring to the issue of employees’ choice of a given type of employment and employees’ health. Future research projects should be focused on developing a comprehensive, coherent and universal tool allowing for an assessment of the implementation level of sustainable HRM ideas in an organization, including standardized reporting of non-permanent employment and employees’ health, and making comparisons not only between organizations, but also between countries.

The Interplay among Age and Employment Status on the Perceptions of Psychosocial Risk Factors at Work

While the role of individual differences in shaping primary appraisals of psychosocial working conditions has been well investigated, less is known about how objective characteristics of the employee profile (e.g., age) are associated with different perceptions of psychosocial risk factors. Moreover, previous research on the link between employment status (i.e., work contract) and such perceptions has provided mixed results, leading to contradictory conclusions. The present study was conducted on a nationally representative sample of theItalian employed workforce surveyed with computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) methodology. The principal aim of the study is to bridge this gap in the extant literature by investigating the interplay between two key characteristics of the employee profile (i.e., age and work contract) in shaping employees’ perceptions of psychosocial risk factors. Given the disparate literature scenario on the interplay between age and employment status in shaping primary appraisals of psychosocial stressors, we formulated and compared multiple competitive informative hypotheses. Consistent with the principles of the conservation of resources (COR) theory, we found that older contingent employees reported a higher level of psychosocial risk than their permanent peers who, in turn, were more vulnerable than middle-aged and younger workers (regardless of their employment status). These results highlight the importance of simultaneously assessing multipleobjective variables of the employee profile (i.e., age and employment status) which may act to shape subjective perceptions of psychosocial risk factors for work-related stress. Given our findings, employers and policy makers should consider older contingent employees as one of the workforce sub-populationsmost vulnerable to negative work environments.

Mental disorders and medical conditions associated with causing injury or death: A population-based study

The aim of the present study is to examine mental disorders and medical conditions associated with causing harm to another person in the general adult population. The sample (n=22,138) was drawn from a cross-sectional survey designed to characterize mental health needs in France. Twelve-month DSM-IV axis I mental disorders and medical conditions, and lifetime occurrence of potentially traumatic events were assessed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview-SF Overall, 2% (n=430) of the sample reported having injured or killed someone. Causing harm was associated with male gender, lower education level, and being unemployed. The great majority (85%) of those who caused harm had experienced two or more additional potentially traumatic events. When adjusting for gender, employment status, education and number of events experienced, causing harm was associated with certain anxiety disorders, drug dependence and lifetime suicide attempt but not with major depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Furthermore, causing harm was not associated with medical conditions in multivariate analyses. These results highlight the need for clinicians to be particularly attentive to the psychological burden that may be experienced by those who have harmed or killed someone.

Cross-Sectional Association Between Employment Status and Self-Rated Health Among Middle-Aged Japanese Women: The Influence of Socioeconomic Conditions and Work-Life Conflict

Background

Few studies examining the impact for women of employment status on health have considered domestic duties and responsibilities as well as household socioeconomic conditions. Moreover, to our knowledge, no studies have explored the influence of work-family conflict on the association between employment status and health. This research aimed to investigate the cross-sectional associations between employment status (regular employee, non-regular employee, or self-employed) with self-rated health among Japanese middle-aged working women.

Methods

Self-report data were obtained from 21,450 working women aged 40–59 years enrolled in the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study for the Next Generation (JPHC-NEXT Study) in 2011–2016. Multivariate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for poor self-rated health (‘poor’ or ‘not very good’) by employment status. Sub-group analyses by household income and marital status, as well as mediation analysis for work-family conflict, were also conducted.

Results

Adjusted ORs for the poor self-rated health of non-regular employees and self-employed workers were 0.90 (95% CI, 0.83–0.98) and 0.84 (95% CI, 0.75–0.94), respectively, compared with regular employees. The identified association of non-regular employment was explained by work-family conflict. Subgroup analysis indicated no statistically significant modifying effects by household income and marital status.

Conclusion

Among middle-aged working Japanese women, employment status was associated with self-rated health; non-regular employees and self-employed workers were less likely to report poor self-rated health, compared with regular employees. Lowered OR of poor self-rated health among non-regular employees may be explained by their reduced work-family conflict.

Temporary employment, work stress and mental health before and after the Spanish economic recession

PURPOSE

This paper analyses the effects of temporary employment on work stress and mental health before (2006/2007) and during the economic recession (2011/2012), and examines whether the economic recession worsened these two health outcomes.

METHODS

To control for selection bias, propensity scores (PS) are computed separately for salaried men and women using microdata from two cross-sectional health surveys in Spain, considering temporary (treatment group) versus permanent employment (control group). Next, we use difference-in-difference estimators stratifying by age, education level, and regional unemployment differences using PS as weights.

RESULTS

Our results indicate that salaried worker with a temporary labour contract tends to have similar levels of high work stress and poorer mental health (only for men) than permanent ones for both periods. The economic recession does not appear to worsen both outcomes. However, when stratifying the sample, the economic recession is responsible for increasing stress among older temporary workers and male university graduates, without affecting women. Regarding mental health, we only find evidence of a negative impact of the economic recession on male temporary workers with university education.

CONCLUSION

The economic recession has not affected poor mental health, but it has accentuated the adverse effects of work stress among some specific subgroups of male workers. These subgroups require specific preventive and support actions as the Spanish firms have not substantially changed their hiring practices after the recession.

The effect of the economic crisis on health in Spain according to educational level and employment status: Does the duration of the crisis also matter?

The objective of this study is to explore the possible impact of the economic crisis on the health of the Spanish-born population not of retirement age (between 30 and 59 years). Specifically, using data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) for the years 2006, 2010 and 2014, we analyze differences in self-perceived health by socioeconomic profile and position occupied in the household. According to our results, the health of men and women show similar levels of association with certain factors (such as education) and different levels with others (women's health is more sensitive to household income level while men's is more sensitive to employment status). Finally, while substantial improvements in self-perceived health were observed during the first period in almost all socioeconomic groups, during the second period there was almost no change, and for the most disadvantaged men (inactive in the labor market and with low educational levels), health worsened.

Precarious employment associated with depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation in adult wage workers

BACKGROUND

Precarious employment is one of the most important indicators of social disadvantage and is associated with poor mental health. This study aimed to investigate the association of precarious employment with depressive mood and suicidal ideation in adult wage workers, and the possible mediating or moderating effect of socioeconomic factors in the association between precarious work and mental health status.

METHOD

Data from the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES V) conducted between 2010 and 2012 were analyzed. Among the 24,173 participants, 6266 adult wage workers (3206 precarious and 3060 non-precarious workers) aged ≥19 years were included. Socioeconomic and health-related characteristics as well as depressive mood and suicidal ideation were investigated.

RESULTS

Precarious employment was significantly associated with depressive mood in the logistic regression analyses adjusting for all potential confounding factors as covariates. The socioeconomic variables including age, gender, education level, marital status, household income, and occupation type were significantly related with depressive mood and suicidal ideation in adult wage workers. We also found that gender and household income had possible moderating effects on the association between precarious employment and suicidal ideation. Precarious work was associated with suicidal ideation only for male workers and worker with low or middle-lower income levels.

LIMITATIONS

Our study is based on a cross-sectional design, thus, we could not elucidate the causal relationship between the variables.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study suggested that precarious employment plays a pivotal role in the mental health status of adult wage workers.

The role of social position and depressive symptoms in adolescence for life-course trajectories of education and work: a cohort study

BACKGROUND

While a vast amount of studies confirm the social reproduction of class and status from one generation to the next, less is known about the role of health in the child generation for these processes. Research has shown that particularly mental distress in adolescence is important for future life chances. This study aimed to examine the importance of parental socioeconomic position and depressive symptoms in youth for life-course trajectories of education and labour market attachment among men and women.

METHODS

Based on four waves of questionnaire data from the Northern Swedish Cohort (n = 1,001), consisting of individuals born in 1965, three steps of gender-separate analyses were undertaken. First, the individual trajectories of education and labour market attachment from age 18 to 42 were mapped through sequence analysis. Second, cluster analysis was used to identify typical trajectories. Third, two indicators of parental socioeconomic position - occupational class and employment status - and depressive symptoms at age 16 were used in multinomial regression analyses to predict adult life-course trajectories.

RESULTS

Four typical trajectories were identified for men, of which three were characterised by stable employment and various lengths of education, and the fourth reflected a more unstable situation. Among women, five trajectories emerged, characterised by more instability compared to men. Low parental occupational class and unemployment were significantly associated with a higher risk of ending up in less advantaged trajectories for men while, for women, this was only the case for occupational class. Youth levels of depressive symptoms did not significantly differ across the trajectories.

CONCLUSIONS

This study found support for the intergenerational reproduction of social position, particularly when measured in terms of parental occupational class. Youth depressive symptoms did not show clear differences across types of trajectories, subsequently impeding such symptoms to trigger any selection processes. While this could be a consequence of the specific framework of the current study, it may also suggest that depressive symptoms in youth are not a root cause for the more complex processes through which how social position develops across life. The possible impact of welfare and labour market policies is discussed.

The emergence of health inequalities in early adulthood: evidence on timing and mechanisms from a West of Scotland cohort

Background

Evidence is inconsistent as to whether or not there are health inequalities in adolescence according to socio-economic position (SEP) and whether or when they emerge in early adulthood. Despite the large health inequalities literature, few studies have simultaneously compared the relative importance of ‘health selection’ versus ‘social causation’ at this life-stage. This study followed a cohort through the youth-adult transition to: (1) determine whether, and if so, when, health inequalities became evident according to both class of origin and current SEP; (2) compare the importance of health selection and social causation mechanisms; and (3) investigate whether these phenomena vary by gender.

Methods

Data are from a West-of-Scotland cohort, surveyed five times between age 15 (in 1987, N=1,515, response=85%) and 36. Self-reported physical and mental health were obtained at each survey. SEP was based on parental occupational class at 15, a combination of own education or occupational status at 18 and own occupational class (with an additional non-employment category) at older ages. In respect of when inequalities emerged, we used the relative index of inequality to examine associations between both parental and own current SEP and health at each age. In respect of mechanisms, path models, including SEP and health at each age, investigated both inter and intra-generational paths from SEP to health (‘causation’) and from health to SEP (‘selection’). Analyses were conducted separately for physical and mental health, and stratified by gender.

Results

Associations between both physical and mental health and parental SEP were non-significant at every age. Inequalities according to own SEP emerged for physical health at 24 and for mental health at 30. There was no evidence of selection based on physical health, but some evidence of associations between mental health in early adulthood and later SEP (intra-generational selection). Paths indicated intra-generational (males) and inter-generational (females) social causation of physical health inequalities, and intra-generational (males and females) and inter-generational (females) social causation of mental health inequalities.

Conclusions

The results suggest complex and reciprocal relationships between SEP and health and highlight adolescence and early adulthood as a sensitive period for this process, impacting on future life-chances and health.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-2674-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

[Indicators to monitor the evolution of the economic crisis and its effects on health and health inequalities. SESPAS report 2014]

The economic crisis has adverse effects on determinants of health and health inequalities. The aim of this article was to present a set of indicators of health and its determinants to monitor the effects of the crisis in Spain. On the basis of the conceptual framework proposed by the Commission for the Reduction of Social Health Inequalities in Spain, we searched for indicators of social, economic, and political (structural and intermediate) determinants of health, as well as for health indicators, bearing in mind the axes of social inequality (gender, age, socioeconomic status, and country of origin). The indicators were mainly obtained from official data sources published on the internet. The selected indicators are periodically updated and are comparable over time and among territories (among autonomous communities and in some cases among European Union countries), and are available for age groups, gender, socio-economic status, and country of origin. However, many of these indicators are not sufficiently reactive to rapid change, which occurs in the economic crisis, and consequently require monitoring over time. Another limitation is the lack of availability of indicators for the various axes of social inequality. In conclusion, the proposed indicators allow for progress in monitoring the effects of the economic crisis on health and health inequalities in Spain.

The direct and indirect effects of initial job status on midlife psychological distress in Japan: evidence from a mediation analysis

In the current study, we investigated how initial job status at graduation from school is associated with midlife psychological distress, using microdata from a nationwide Internet survey of 3,117 men and 2,818 women aged 30-60 yr. We measured psychological distress using the Kessler 6 (K6) score (range: 0-24) and the binary variable of K6 score ≥5. We found that unstable initial job status substantially raised midlife K6 scores and the probability of a K6 score ≥5 for both men and women. Furthermore, our mediation analysis showed that for men, slightly less than 60% of the effect was mediated by current job status, household income, and marital status. For women, the effect of initial job status was somewhat lesser than that for men, and only 20-30% of it was mediated. Despite these gender asymmetries, the results indicated that initial job status was a key predictor of midlife mental health. The association between job status and mental health should be further investigated with special reference to the institutional attributes of the labor market and their socio-economic/demographic outcomes.

Differences in self-rated health by employment contract and household structure among Japanese employees: a nationwide cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to examine whether the association between employment contract and self-rated health differs by household structure in a representative sample of employees in Japan.

METHODS

The participants were 81,441 male and 64,471 female employees aged 18-59 years who had participated in the 2010 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions. We assessed the interactive effect of employment contract (permanent or precarious) and household structure (couple only, couple with children, single parent, single person, or other multi-person) on fair/poor health, adjusting for covariates by using logistic regression. We then calculated the relative poverty rate by employment contract and household structure.

RESULTS

The interaction effect was significant for women (p<0.001) but not for men (p=0.413). A higher percentage of female precarious workers who lived in single-parent households (20.2%) reported fair/poor health compared with those in other types of households (10.4-13.2%), although the prevalence of fair/poor health did not differ substantially by household structure among female permanent workers. The relative poverty rates of female precarious workers who lived in single-parent households were higher compared with those of other female workers.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that female precarious workers are not a homogeneous group and that those living in single-parent households suffer from poor health due to low income and insufficient coverage by insurance firms and family-based safety nets.

Employment arrangements and mental health in a cohort of working Australians: are transitions from permanent to temporary employment associated with changes in mental health?

We investigated whether being in temporary employment, as compared with permanent employment, was associated with a difference in Short Form 36 mental health and whether transitions from permanent employment to temporary employment were associated with mental health changes. We used fixed-effects regression in a nationally representative Australian sample with 10 waves of data collection (2001-2010). Interactions by age and sex were tested. Two forms of temporary employment were studied: "casual" (no paid leave entitlements or fixed hours) and "fixed-term contract" (a defined employment period plus paid leave). There were no significant mental health differences between temporary employment and permanent employment in standard fixed-effects analyses and no significant interactions by sex or age. For all age groups combined, there were no significant changes in mental health following transitions from stable permanent employment to temporary employment, but there was a significant interaction with age (P = 0.03) for the stable-permanent-to-casual employment transition, because of a small transition-associated improvement in mental health for workers aged 55-64 years (β = 1.61, 95% confidence interval: 0.34, 2.87; 16% of the standard deviation of mental health scores). Our analyses suggest that temporary employment is not harmful to mental health in the Australian context and that it may be beneficial for 55- to 64-year-olds transitioning from stable permanent employment to casual employment.

Context matters: community characteristics and mental health among war-affected youth in Sierra Leone

BACKGROUND

Worldwide, over one billion children and adolescents live in war-affected settings. At present, only limited research has investigated linkages between disrupted social ecology and adverse mental health outcomes among war-affected youth. In this study, we examine three community-level characteristics - social disorder and collective efficacy within the community, as reported by caregivers, and perceived stigma as reported by youth - in relation to externalizing behaviors and internalizing symptoms among male and female former child soldiers in postconflict Sierra Leone.

METHODS

A total of 243 former child soldiers (30% female, mean age at baseline: 16.6 years) and their primary caregivers participated in interviews in 2004 and 2008, as part of a larger prospective cohort study of war-affected youth in Sierra Leone. Two-point growth models were estimated to examine the relationship between community-level characteristics and externalizing and internalizing outcomes across the time points.

RESULTS

Both social disorder within the community, reported by caregivers, and perceived stigma, reported by youth, positively covaried with youths' externalizing and internalizing scores - indicating that higher levels of each at baseline and follow-up were associated with higher levels of mental health problems at both time points (p < .05). The relationship between collective efficacy and mental health outcomes was nonsignificant (p > .05).

CONCLUSIONS

This study offers a rare glimpse into the role that the postconflict social context plays in shaping the mental health among former child soldiers. Results indicate that both social disorder and perceived stigma within the community demonstrate an important relationship to externalizing and internalizing problems among adolescent ex-combatants. Moreover, these relationships persisted over a 4-year period of follow-up. These results underscore the importance of the postconflict social environment and the need to develop postconflict interventions that address community-level processes in addition to the needs of families and individuals.

Hostility/anger as a mediator between college students' emotion regulation abilities and symptoms of depression, social anxiety, and generalized anxiety

Internalizing problems are common among college students and have been linked consistently to deficits in emotion regulation (ER). Also, hostility/anger (animosity toward others, phenomenological aspect of anger) is an important feature of internalizing problems, but has received limited attention as a mediator between ER and outcomes. Results (N = 160) indicated that although college students' ER abilities corresponded with all three types of internalizing symptoms, hostility/anger mediated fully the relationship for symptoms of depression and social anxiety, but not generalized anxiety (GAD). The stronger interpersonal aspect inherent in depression and social anxiety relative to GAD may in part explain findings, but findings must be viewed in lieu of limitations, which include self-report, a non-clinical sample, and a cross-sectional design. Overall, hostility/anger may be important to address in interventions and programs aimed at reducing internalizing problems, especially among those who demonstrate ER deficits and are prone to depression and social anxiety.

Employment contracts and health selection: unhealthy employees out and healthy employees in?

OBJECTIVE

The healthy worker effect implies that healthy workers go "up" in employment status whereas less healthy workers go "down" into precarious temporary employment or unemployment. These hypotheses were tested during an economic recession, by predicting various upward and downward contract trajectories, based on workers' health status, work-related well-being, and work ability.

METHODS

Two waves (2008 and 2009) of the Netherlands Working Conditions Cohort Study (N = 7112) were used and logistic regression analyses were performed to test the hypothesis of this study.

RESULTS

Lower general health and higher emotional exhaustion at baseline predicted future unemployment among permanent employees. Various downward trajectories were also predicted by lower work-related well-being and lower work ability, whereas the opposite was true for one of the upward trajectories.

CONCLUSIONS

Workers with lower health, lower work-related well-being, or lower work ability are at risk for ending up in precarious temporary employment or unemployment.

Employment precariousness and poor mental health: evidence from Spain on a new social determinant of health

BACKGROUND

Evidence on the health-damaging effects of precarious employment is limited by the use of one-dimensional approaches focused on employment instability. This study assesses the association between precarious employment and poor mental health using the multidimensional Employment Precariousness Scale.

METHODS

Cross-sectional study of 5679 temporary and permanent workers from the population-based Psychosocial Factors Survey was carried out in 2004-2005 in Spain. Poor mental health was defined as SF-36 mental health scores below the 25th percentile of the Spanish reference for each respondent's sex and age. Prevalence proportion ratios (PPRs) of poor mental health across quintiles of employment precariousness (reference: 1st quintile) were calculated with log-binomial regressions, separately for women and men.

RESULTS

Crude PPRs showed a gradient association with poor mental health and remained generally unchanged after adjustments for age, immigrant status, socioeconomic position, and previous unemployment. Fully adjusted PPRs for the 5th quintile were 2.54 (95% CI: 1.95-3.31) for women and 2.23 (95% CI: 1.86-2.68) for men.

CONCLUSION

The study finds a gradient association between employment precariousness and poor mental health, which was somewhat stronger among women, suggesting an interaction with gender-related power asymmetries. Further research is needed to strengthen the epidemiological evidence base and to inform labour market policy-making.

Psychosocial and other working conditions: variation by employment arrangement in a sample of working Australians

BACKGROUND

The evidence linking precarious employment with poor health is mixed. Self-reported occupational exposures in a population-based Australian sample were assessed to investigate the potential for differential exposure to psychosocial and other occupational hazards to contribute to such a relationship, hypothesizing that exposures are worse under more precarious employment arrangements (EA).

METHODS

Various psychoscial and other working conditions were modeled in relation to eight empirically derived EA categories with Permanent Full-Time (PFT) as the reference category (N = 925), controlling for sex, age, and occupational skill level.

RESULTS

More precarious EA were associated with higher odds of adverse exposures. Casual Full-Time workers had the worst exposure profile, showing the lowest job control, as well as the highest odds of multiple job holding, shift work, and exposure to four or more additional occupational hazards. Fixed-Term Contract workers stood out as the most likely to report job insecurity. Self-employed workers showed the highest job control, but also the highest odds of long working hours.

CONCLUSIONS

Psychosocial and other working conditions were generally worse under more precarious EA, but patterns of adverse occupational exposures differ between groups of precariously employed workers.

Prevalence of common mental disorders and their work consequences in France, according to occupational category

BACKGROUND

The aims of the study are to estimate the prevalence of the common mental disorders according to occupational category and to describe the consequences of these disorders on their work, in the French population.

METHODS

It took place in France from 1999 to 2003. The sample consisted of about 36,000 people aged 18 years and older. Data were collected face-to-face using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI).

RESULTS

Anxiety disorders were most common (17% in men and 26% in women), while prevalence estimates for mood disorders were 10% in men and 14% in women. Prevalence of troubles were consistently higher among those in the lowest occupational categories. Among those reporting mental disorders, about 50% said that their work was affected. The repercussions on job varied by occupational category and differently for men and women.

CONCLUSION

This study shows the social and occupational inequalities in the prevalence of mental disorders and their important work consequences in the French working population. Am. J. Ind. Med. 52:141-152, 2009. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Education and training of young people who grew up with cochlear implants

AIMS

We want to provide new qualitative and quantitative data on the long-term impact of cochlear implantation (CI) on educational placement, vocational outcomes and employment status of hearing-impaired adolescents and young adults.

METHODS

52 cochlear implant users (age: 12-21 years) and a control group of 155 normal-hearing peers participated in structured interviews on their educational level, achievement, satisfaction with their vocational placement and correspondence between career aspiration and actual occupation.

RESULTS

The educational level of CI-using pupils did not differ from the Austrian population. More than 80% of school-aged children attended mainstream schools. The educational level was positively correlated to the educational level of the father and performance on numbers in an auditory speech test. Nevertheless, parents of pupils with cochlear implants rated the future career chances of their children significantly less optimistic than parents of normal-hearing peers. More than 60% of secondary post-graduates (alumni) completed their education in mainstream schools, two studied at university. 12 out of 13 participants, who required work, were employed, 75% of them with regular contracts. Although all CI-users reported high satisfaction with their work, the correspondence between career aspiration and actual occupation was significantly lower for CI-users compared to normal-hearing peers.

CONCLUSION

The majority of CI-users in our study group was well integrated into the hearing world, concerning their schooling and post-graduate development. However their career perspectives are still not satisfying.

Does transition from an unstable labour market position to permanent employment protect mental health? Results from a 14-year follow-up of school-leavers

BACKGROUND

Having secure employment, in contrast to being unemployed, is regarded as an important determinant of health. Research and theories about the negative health consequences of unemployment indicated that transition from unemployment to a paid job could lead to improved health. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that obtaining permanent employment after being in an unstable labour market position protects mental health.

METHODS

A 14-year follow-up of all graduates from compulsory school in an industrial town in northern Sweden was performed at ages 16, 18, 21 and 30 years. Complete data on the cohort were collected for 1044 individuals with the aid of a comprehensive questionnaire. The response rate was 96.4%. The health measurement used in this study was the psychological symptoms analysed by multivariate logistic regression. Those who obtained permanent employment were the focus of the analysis. This group consisted of people who were in an unstable labour market position for a year or more between the ages of 25 and 29, and who had acquired a permanent job one year before and at the time of the investigation.

RESULTS

After controlling for gender as well as for an indicator of health-related selection, possible confounders and mediators, an association was found between the lower probability of psychological symptoms and obtaining permanent employment (OR = 0.35, 95% CI 0.19-0.63) as well as having permanent employment (OR = 0.22, 95% CI 0.10-0.51).

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that transition from an unstable labour market position to permanent employment could be health-promoting, even after controlling for possible confounders and mediators, as well as for an indicator of health-related selection. However, as there are few studies in the field, there is a need for more longitudinal studies in order to further analyse the relationship and to examine possible explanations. The policy implication of our study is that the transformation of unstable labour market positions into permanent employment could contribute to better public health.

Temporary employment and antidepressant medication: a register linkage study

Evidence on the association between temporary employment and mental health is mixed. This study examined associations of temporary employment with register-based antidepressant medication by type and length of temporary job contract and socioeconomic position. Antidepressant prescriptions (1998-2002) were linked to register data for 17,071 men and 48,137 women in 10 Finnish municipalities. Repeated measures analyses over time were adjusted for age, socioeconomic position, and calendar year. After adjustments, temporary employment with a job contract more than 6 months was associated with odds ratio (OR) of 1.18 (95% confidence interval CI 1.03-1.37) for antidepressant use in men and 0.99 (0.93-1.06) in women. Among temporary employees with a job contract of 6 months or less the corresponding odds ratio was higher (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.19-1.73 in men, OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.09-1.28 in women). Long-term unemployed who were in short-term government-subsidised temporary employment had the highest odds of antidepressant use (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.23-2.02 in men, OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.20-1.59 in women). During the study period, increase in the prevalence of antidepressant medication was more rapid among women in government-subsidised temporary employment than among permanently employed women. Among men, the association between temporary employment and antidepressant use was stronger within lower grade occupations. The results suggest that using antidepressants is more pronounced when temporary employment is unstable.